Development of an ADHD Cognitions Scale

A recent Online First article from the Journal of Attention Disorders, the flagship journal of APSARD, highlights the development of a brief questionnaire to assess potentially maladaptive thoughts that are common to adults with ADHD (Knouse et al., 2017). More specifically, the scale targets the types of cognitions that are not typically thought of as being problematic – positive thoughts.
The sorts of “incautiously optimistic” thoughts (Knouse & Mitchell, 2015) captured in this scale represent an important clinical pivot point in CBT for adult ADHD insofar as they are an intervention point for promoting the implementation of coping strategies, rather than succumbing to an avoidant thought, such as “I’ll just do this one thing first.”
Ultimately, the measure of CBT and other psychosocial treatments for adult ADHD is whether adults with ADHD are more consistent in their use of compensatory coping strategies for managing ADHD and improving functioning in real-world roles and endeavors. However, the scale outlined in this article is a quick and useful tool for identifying and tracking these sorts of ADHD cognitions.